A SMALL JAPANESE ARITA BLUE AND WHITE MOULDED DISH (MUKOZUKE)

A SMALL JAPANESE ARITA BLUE AND WHITE MOULDED DISH (MUKOZUKE)

EDO PERIOD, LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Modelled as a crane in flight, the elegant bird turning its head to the right, the feathers moulded in low relief and with details rendered in underglaze blue, the rim with a brown edge, raised on a short foot painted with a crenellated border, the base inscribed with a Chinese mark reading Xuan Ming nian zhi,15.8cm.

Provenance: from an English private collection, London.

Cf. G Lang, The Wrestling Boys, An exhibition of Chinese and Japanese ceramics from the 16th to the 18th century in the collection at Burghley House, p.5, no.16, for a comparable dish.